Chapter 142: The Dong Family

Mountain peaks rose steep and sheer, dense mist churning around them.

More than a dozen flying ships tore through the sky, trailing ragged spiritual light and thick smoke as they fled in panic beneath the low-hanging clouds.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the hulls, and the sterns of several ships were still burning, flames flickering in the wind. Members of the Dong Family stood packed along the railings, their clothes in tatters and their faces caked in grime. Some cradled children; others supported the injured. No one spoke.

At the prow, the white-haired elder stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Beside him stood the black-haired elder and a burly man in eccentric robes.

The black-haired elder looked back the way they had come. Only after confirming no one was in pursuit did he lower his voice to speak, his tone anxious.

"Great Elder, that was a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Late Stage... His aura was even more terrifying than the Blood Abyss Sect's Second Elder I once saw. Where do we go now?"

The white-haired elder remained silent. He merely stared out at the sea of clouds ahead, his face ashen.

Beside them, the burly man in the eccentric robes sneered. He pointed at the two of them, teeth gritted.

"I came here to do business! Not to throw my life away for your Dong Family! Now that you've dragged me into this wretched state, shouldn't your Dong Family give me an explanation for this deal?"

The white-haired elder did not look at him. His gaze remained fixed on the distance, but the hands clenched inside his sleeves were white at the knuckles. He was forbearing by nature, but not devoid of temper. Right now, however, anger was meaningless.

The black-haired elder whipped around and glared at the burly man. "Fellow Daoist Hu, what is that supposed to mean? Even we have no idea what just happened! My Dong Family has suffered total ruin, yet you stand there making snide remarks?"

The two traded barbs, their voices growing louder.

The white-haired elder remained completely silent, as if he hadn't heard a thing. Then, deep within the distant clouds, a flash of bloody light flared without warning, blindingly bright even against the sunlight.

A violent surge of spiritual energy erupted, sweeping toward them like a tidal wave. The prows of the dozen-plus flying ships were violently thrown upward. People tumbled across the decks; some were flung over the railings, their screams vanishing into the clouds.

Almost simultaneously, the three Nascent Soul cultivators erected their protective spiritual light to withstand the blast.

But before they could steady themselves, a colossal skull coalesced in the empty air ahead. Eerie blue and formed entirely from bizarre ghost fire, it possessed hollow eye sockets and a maw of churning flames as it hurtled straight toward them.

It moved too fast, arriving in the blink of an eye.

Without time to think, the three simultaneously channeled their magical power to erect a barrier in front of them. Yet even with three Nascent Soul cultivators joining forces, the strike forced them back step by step. Cracks webbed across the barrier's surface, looking as though it would shatter at any second.

The cultivator surnamed Hu gritted his teeth and held on for a moment. Suddenly, he threw a sidelong glance at the two beside him. His eyes flashed, and shrouded in golden light, his figure tore through the air, fleeing to the side.

"You bastard surnamed Hu—!"

The Dong Family's Third Elder let out a fierce roar, his eye sockets splitting from rage.

But in the very next instant, the eerie blue skull smashed through the remainder of the barrier.

The Dong Family's Great Elder and Third Elder were violently hurled backward by the rebound, crashing onto the deck and coughing up blood. The skull, however, did not stop. It wheeled around in midair and shot in the direction of the fleeing cultivator surnamed Hu.

A scream drifted from the distance, cutting off abruptly.

In that patch of empty sky, only a few stray embers slowly flickered out.

High above, a figure in blue robes slowly emerged. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down from on high, as though he had never left that spot—or as though he had been waiting from the very beginning for them to flee to this place.

On the decks below, countless gazes looked up.

These were the sole surviving members of the Dong Family. Across dozens of flying ships, thousands of eyes stared in unison at that blue silhouette. They were eyes brimming with fury and hatred, like blades quenched in fire.

The white-haired elder slowly stood up from the deck, his chest heaving and blood staining the corner of his mouth. Looking up at the blue silhouette, his voice was hoarse. "Who are you? Why have you destroyed my Dong Family?"

No answer came from above. The figure merely looked down at him in silence, as if regarding a withered leaf. After a long while, an amused voice drifted down.

"Your Dong Family isn't half bad. I'll give you a chance. Whatever methods you have, bring them out."

The white-haired elder glared furiously.

But he did not move.

He knew the disparity between them all too well. The aura radiating from that figure was as heavy as the sea, pressing down until his spine nearly buckled.

Yet he did not lower his head.

He could not lower his head.

Behind him stood the final sparks of the entire Dong Family.

He was the Great Elder of the Dong Family. Even in death, he would die at the very front.

Just then, a figure walked slowly from the side and stopped beside him. It was the Third Elder. Blood still stained the corner of his mouth and a white longsword rested in his grip, yet his gaze was exceptionally calm.

"Great Elder, I will assist you."

The white-haired elder did not turn around, only shaking his head faintly. "Third Brother, I will hold him off. You take a portion of the family and flee first. Even if I die..."

"We can't leave," the Third Elder interrupted. At this moment, his tone was actually much calmer.

The white-haired elder fell silent for a moment, then finally gave a faint nod.

Indeed, they could not leave.

He looked into the distance, toward the homeland he had protected for hundreds of years. Now, it had been reduced to ashes in the green mist.

He looked at the faces behind him—young, old, terrified, and furious. Every single one was waiting for him to speak.

He slowly closed his eyes, unable to bear looking at them.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Great Elder, we aren't leaving!"

Immediately after, a second voice rang out from another flying ship.

"The Dong Family is still here, so we are still alive!"

The voices grew more numerous and dense, like rolling boulders tumbling from one ship to another, from one group of people to the next.

"My wife and children died at that demon's hands! What point is there in living?"

"My parents are still in the city. I couldn't save them..."

"Then stay! Dying on our feet is better than fleeing on our knees!"

"Our Dong Family has been rooted in these Spirit Medicine Mountains for hundreds of years! Even if we can't hold this land today, we must hold onto our pride!"

Some roared, some wept, and some clenched their fists until they drew blood from their palms. No one urged the ships to flee. No one asked where they would go next. Everyone looked in the same direction, gazing at the aged figure in white standing with his back to them at the front of the deck.

The white-haired elder stood there, watching them. His throat bobbed, but no words came out. The voices behind him continued—multiplying, chaotic—yet carrying an indescribable strength that struck his heart, each blow heavier than the last.

He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his gaze had become calm.

He took out his natal magic treasure, a longsword that had accompanied him through battle for many years.

Its blade was damaged and its spiritual light dim, yet he gripped it with absolute steadiness.

"I am the seventh-generation Great Elder of the Dong Family."

His voice was not loud, yet it drowned out all the noise behind him.

"Today, we fight to the death. We will not retreat."

Behind him, the Third Elder stepped forward silently and stood by his side.

High in the sky, the blue-robed figure finally dropped his amused expression. He watched for a moment, then spoke slowly.

"Interesting."